Hot Chocolate Popcorn Balls {DIY Holiday Gift Basket}
These Hot Chocolate Popcorn Balls are perfect homemade food gift to give for the holidays! Sweet, salty, and crunchy, wrapped in a homemade gift basket! This recipe was created for an Easy Gift basket, as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias®.
Hey guys!
I am sharing with you today an easy gift idea for the holidays. It is the season of gift exchange with friends, family and loved ones. And truth be told, most times I run out of ideas for certain people on my list. One of the easiest gifts to give a loved one is a combination of simple favorites. I made these hot chocolate popcorn balls to use in a gift basket for a co-worker that loves movies, popcorn and oddly Slim Jims. A weird combination right? But to each their own! And gifting is all about making the other person happy 🙂
I know he loves sweets and salty treats (who doesn’t) so I decided to use hot chocolate mix to make some popcorn balls that I packaged with a few of his favorite things in a gift basket. After making a trip to Target with the goal of assembling this gift basket, I picked up everything I needed and more because well, it is Target and things just seem to have wings and fly into carts. Moving along.
First I make the hot chocolate popcorn balls, resulting in a sweet and crunchy combination of M&Ms, popcorn and marshmallows.
Then package them into treat bags, tied with cute Christmas ribbons. It is a messy business, I should warn you.
The next step will be to gather all your items going into the gift basket. Because my friend loves movies and I wanted that as a theme, I used a popcorn bucket. You might use a beautiful weave basket instead. Assemble the bucket.
Wrap with clear plastic wrap and ribbons once you have everything in the bucket. This can be ten times more beautiful but I am so NOT crafty and was even lucky to get a nice bow :p
However, this was an easy gift to assemble and I am very happy I did. I know my friend will appreciate it even more because it is common knowledge that I am not crafty AT ALL and usually stay away from handmade projects.
If you have a movie lover on your Christmas list, consider this easy gift basket, filled with hot chocolate popcorn balls, for them!!
Hot Chocolate Popcorn Balls
Popcorn balls wrapped in decadent hot chocolate
Ingredients
- 6 cups popcorn
- 3 tablespoons Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix
- ¼ cup butter,
- 10 ounces marshmallows
- 1 cup M&Ms
- Nonstick cooking spray
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips, melted (optional, topping)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, toss popcorn with hot chocolate mix.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Cook stirring until brown. Add in marshmallows and stir constantly until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over popcorn mixture immediately and mix to coat. Add in M&Ms.
- Spray an ice cream scoop or your hands with nonstick cooking spray. Shape popcorn into 2-inch balls. Place balls on parchment paper and allow to cool. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired. Wrap popcorn balls in decorative bags.
What a great gift idea! I love the popcorn balls that you’ve made. It’s a wonderful addition to your gift basket! Send me one? 😉
Thanks Renee!! I would love to send you one :). Just need that NM address.
my tummy is literally rumbling just reading about these!
they are so addicting
Perfect gift, everyone would love these!
Thanks!
I don’t make popcorns balls nearly as much as I should. These are the perfect treat. I think I’ll find myself making some very soon!
They are so fun. Lots of messy hands and a different pace from baking. Hope you try 🙂
I have never made them, and I can’t believe I didn’t. It will be done next week for sure. They are adorable.
Ash this was my first time too and they were so fun. Kids will love taking part but be warned of the messy hands 🙂
These look so fun and delicious! I can only guess that they’re absolutely addicting. 🙂
Oh Marcie you are right. They made about 30 balls and almost half way gone by the time I was packaging lol
these would make perfect teacher gifts!
These popcorn balls look so fun and pretty Zainab! What a wonderful gift idea – love them 🙂
Thanks Kelly!!
These look delicious…I am jealous of your friend who is getting one awesome Christmas gift this year!!
Thanks David!! He informed me when this post went live that I should have made multiple baskets because now everyone wants one lol!
Zainab I love this idea, they look so tasty and festive!
Thanks dear!!
I love making homemade edible gifts..these popcorn balls are so cute and fun!
Thanks Meghan. I should make them more.
I love this creative idea! Perfect for teachers too.
I have had popcorn balls on my to-make list since before Halloween. These sound even better than the plain ole marshmallow ones I was planning on making. 🙂
Thanks Jamie. So true it would be perfect for teachers and could be great project to work with kids on. Only moms will think about these 🙂
I wouldn’t mind getting a basket of these yummy treats in the mail for a holiday treat…just saying 😉 They’d be gone in seconds!
Hahha, I’d have to score your address soon then!! Been meaning to send you an email so I’ll add that to what I need :). Thanks Julie!!
These popcorn balls look so delicious and special! I also wouldn’t mind a basket of these lol
Thanks Layla!! Having just a bowl of these will make any day 🙂
Ooooh these look so so fun and darling! I’ll take the whole basket, please 😉
So I don’t know where I have been the last couple of days that I missed this post! These gift baskets look adorable! I am a huge movie person and really want to make one to keep for myself 🙂 I love popcorn balls and adding hot chocolate to them is such a good idea! Looks delicious!
And I also cannot go to Target without getting more than I need!
Thanks Ally!! We should have a movie night the next time I am in town (FYI: Next June for college reunion). Maybe a Harry Potter marathon and some of these chocolate popcorn treats :). We can’t go to Target together though…will be bad lol!
These would make the perfect gift for me! haha! 😀 I love popcorn balls. Thanks for sharing this one Zainab!
I seriously, seriously, seriously love these. I am sharing this everywhere.
Thank you my dear for sharing!!
Oh whoa!!! These need to be in my mouth right now! Or dunked in my hot cocoa? No I don’t think that would work right. Either way, I WANT!
Ohmygoodness I just found your blog .. LOVE the recipe !! Thank you for sharing with us out in Cyberland !!
Thank you so much Diana!! So happy you found me 🙂 I hope you find more recipes you like around here. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with. Happy holidays!!
Oh and the grands love the recipe ….Emailed it to them today and they want to be sure we make it when they come out over Christmas break…
You are such a sweetie to make such a thoughtful and beautiful gift! And I love how you’ve combined two seasonal favorites: hot cocoa and popcorn balls. So smart!
Such a fun gift idea! The messier, the better! 🙂
I know right? Thanks dear!!
My mouth is watering. Gonna try this now. Thanks for sharing